Termin: 11. studeni 2026., 14-15 sati
Predavač: András M. Horváth, BakerMcKenzie Budapest
Moderator: Jasminka Pecotić Kaufman, EFZG
Naziv: Competition Law Developments in Hungary – Politics, policy and cases
Opis: Hungarian competition law and policy is on the move. There is a political conflict between the executives of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) and the newly-elected government. In this conflict a number of inefficiencies have been raised concerning the work of the HCA. However, the HCA could be perceived as a very active authority. The HCA claims to fight bid rigging, however, it only adopted 3 cartel decisions (garbage trucks, medical imaging devices and railways) after several years of investigation and court battles. Using its accelerated sector inquiry tool, the HCA looked at three public procurement markets (medical equipment, passenger cars, mosquito control), where the percentage of single bid tenders was high. However, the selection of the markets could be criticized. Also, the HCA could be criticized for rejecting and disputing leniency applications in a few cartel cases, diminishing the appeal of the leniency program. The HCA dealt with a surprising number of vertical restraints cases, of which only the mineral water case can be considered substantial. The HCA tried to play an active role in tackling inflation. The HCA operates a price tracker website, collecting, displaying and comparing the prices of grocery retailers for certain food products. However, the effect of the price tracker on price levels is debatable. The HCA also checked three markets (cooking oil, eggs, milk) via accelerated sector inquiry, but did not identify any competition issues that may have caused a spike in prices in these markets. The HCA emphasized its market-friendly approach, shown mainly by the high number of 1-week merger approvals. However, this can also be perceived as a lack of scrutiny towards structural changes of the market.
Biografija predavača:
András obtained his LLM in competition law from City University (London) in 2009. He earned his PhD at the ELTE (Budapest) in 2016 with a dissertation on antitrust damages. He is currently a counsel at Baker McKenzie in Budapest. He has represented clients in numerous competition law matters before the Hungarian Competition Authority, the European Commission, Hungarian courts, and the Court of Justice of the European Union, and has provided legal advice on competition law compliance, including manuals, trainings, simulations and audits. Before joining Baker McKenzie, András was an attorney at Dentons in Budapest and worked as a trainee at DG Competition in Brussels.